Shit = Fertilizer

Man, I was sure today was going down the crapper. I had a bunch of things due, with little time to do it in. I knew that I had a huge midterm coming next week (two, actually) in my Music History class. My comp sci professor e-mailed me and asked if I was still in his class, due to a few missed labs, and I have an assignment due Thursday. I have a 4 to 7 page paper to write, about my El journey, due Friday. And to top it all off, I finally reached 42 GB of music on my laptop, and it's barely chugging along, with about 5 or 6 GB left on it. I can barely multi-task on my laptop anymore. I also think I'm coming down with a small cold.

But since I am awesome, I was the catalyst to get this kick ass roll going.

Throughout the day, I worked on my El paper. I am currently working on page 4, going on 5, and I haven't even started talking about my Pink Line experience yet, so that'll be finished in no time. This is ground-breaking for me, seeing that it takes me ages to write at least 3 (I kid you not). In my Music History class, our professor asked us in which formats we wanted our midterm in, so we all decided on multiple choice, fill in the blank, ID'ing select pieces of music, and writing full definitions, to be fair with our prof. He's giving us the study guide next week, so this midterm is pretty much weaksauce. As for my comp sci class, I e-mailed him back, saying that I am indeed in the class. He was just wondering where my labs were. Why he didn't ask me where my labs were in the first place, I will never know. Anyways, in the syllabus, the labs count for 5% of my grade. I couldn't do the first 2 labs, just because I was still busy with other things. So in the grand scheme of things, I'm in good shape, even if I miss a couple. As for the assignment, I finished that shit in no time at the CBC, with Ryan's help.

As for my laptop woes, I copied/pasted my entire library onto my external hard drive and switched the importing location for all my songs to my external HD instead of on my laptop. Granted, I have to plug in my external HD each time I listen to music, or rip CDs, but it's a small price to pay. And a few moments ago, I ordered a 1 GB ram chip to make my laptop run fast and free again, bumping it up from 512 MB to 1.5 GB. For $20.

Oh, and as the day went on, I felt a whole lot better. I guess all I needed was some Starburst.

I am fucking awesome. It's a shame that the Cubs lost today, or I would have been even happier than I already am.

All I have to do now is do well in my guitar lesson tomorrow, and have a good close at work, and from there, my week will be done. Boo-yah.

Step One: Check. 2 More Celebrations To Go.

So, fun weekend.

I had no work on Friday, which is always a good thing. It was a shame the Cubs lost that day, but since the tail-spinning Brewers gave up a game to the Reds, the magic number decreased to 1. Later on that day, Ryan, Sami, and I went to Bed Bath & Beyond to try and find a wedding gift for Megan. But, we wound up walking around for 20 minutes, finding things we wanted to get for ourselves. To counter this, we went to Best Buy's boring section (where all the fridges and washing machines are) and we got her a George Foreman panini grill. It'd be perfect for her; she can make Chicken Pomodoris any time she wants!

The following day was Megan's wedding out in Clarendon Hills. It was about 10 minutes away from Naperville, so it took about half an hour to get there. The service was short and sweet; it was a Christian service; no communion was had. A huge emphasis was put onto Jesus, and not the couple themselves, which was quite an interesting spin on things.

Anyway, our present was wrapped up in Bob the Builder wrapping paper. We had nothing else! So, since we wanted to show a bit of class, we went to a nearby Walgreens to get decent wrapping paper. All the while, I was glued to the radio, listening to the Cubs pound the Cardinals. Then, it happened. The clinch. I jumped around the parking lot, expressing my elation with everyone else there; I was one happy man. I immediately texted each one of my friends to spread the good news, and to share the joy of the Cubs winning back to back division titles!

The reception was a few hours later. Knowing that it was a Christian wedding, we thought that there wouldn't be an open bar.

SO wrong.

The night was real fun, dancing away to the songs, eating delicious food and drinking awesome stuff, and enjoying the company of my CBC friends. Also, I almost caught Megan's garter, but this kid beat me to it. I suppose I'll be single for a long long time.....hopefully this won't be the case so soon.

Oh, and I just got back home from riding the El for a project in my Chicago History class. I pretty much rode the Brown and Pink lines, both from the end of the line, and through the Loop, taking notes on the people I saw, and what was around me. 3 hours of beautiful insanity, I tell you.

We're a game away from getting home field advantage, we still beat the Cardinals, 5-1 with the majority of our regulars on the bench, and Marquis hit a grand slam a few minutes ago. I feel so.....alive!!

This is going to be a good week. I feel it.

Screw You, Boredom!

Here's a little something I did just a few minutes ago. I'm extremely bored, and I have nothing to read for tomorrow's classes. The Cubs game is over (nice job, Lilly!) and the Sox lost to the Yankees. So, here is my video, featuring Ruby. Ella Jean has a broken string, and I still need to get some spares. I did this all in one take, so please excuse the mess ups that occur every so often (especially that last lick...damn you!) But I like this song a lot, and I've been playing it often, so why not show y'all? I also learned this song entirely by ear, took me about 2 and a half hours to get everything down. So I'm proud of myself. :D Enjoy!

NO-NO!

Honestly, I was going to blog about how this week and weekend was, but everything I had to say will take a back seat to this:

In the evening of September 14th, 2008, in Miller Park in Milwaukee Wisconsin (yeah, insane right?), Carlos Zambrano threw a 110-pitch, 10 K no-hitter to the Houston Astros. The only blemishes were one walk to Michael Bourn and Hunter Pence getting hit by a pitch. The game tonight was downright magical, I'll never forget this one. Big Z had everything going for him tonight. What is it about the Houston Astros that attracts Cubbie history? Remember when Kerry Wood struck out 20 Astros 10 years ago? Another awesome moment.

So congrats, Carlos. Keep the W's flying, and stay healthy. We're 7.5 games ahead of the Brewers in the division, and the magic number is down to lucky 7. Lilly is on the mound tomorrow, and we have a 3 game set at Wrigley starting Tuesday against the Brew Crew. Let's make this push to October a memorable one, boys.

Go Cubs.

A Few (More) Things

1) Thank you, Chicago Cubs (and especially Theodore Roosevelt Lilly III) for finally winning a ballgame. Let's get out there tonight and make it two in a row for September for once!

2) I am sitting in class, bored off my mind; I knew it would happen someday. Lecture is almost over, and I can't wait to get home and watch the Cubs and finish up my Chicago History reading. I am a nerd.

3) I got put into a Figure Four Leg Lock today. Don't know what it is? Shame on you...but here's an explanation anyway (from Wikipedia):

"Figure four leglock

The wrestler stands over the opponent who is lying on the mat face up and grasps a leg of the opponent. The wrestler then does a spinning toe hold and grasps the other leg, crossing them into a "4" (hence the name) as he does so and falls to the mat, applying pressure to the opponent's crossed legs with his own.

This move was made popular as the finishing move of "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, Jack Brisco, Carlitos Colón, Greg Valentine and Ric Flair, who sometimes adds to it by twisting his opponents ankle as it is locked in, Ric Flair often uses his hands to elevate himself, causing more pressure on the legs. Also, if the referee is distracted, he will hold the ropes to apply more pain, and at least once when he was part of The Four Horsemen he held onto their hands and they pulled to help him gain leverage.

An inverted variation exists more recently used by Shawn Michaels where the wrestler takes on of the opponent's legs, turns 90 degrees, then grabs the other opponent's leg and crosses it with the other, puts one foot in between and the other on the other leg, and then bridges over.

A wrestler may counter the figure four by rolling over on to their stomach, which applies the pressure on the original applier's legs. This counter to the figure four is often called a modified indian deathlock or sometimes referred to as a sharpshooter variant."

It actually kinda hurt! How did I get myself into this? Because a few friends and I were bored, so sue us.

4) Busy weekends are coming up. Danny's party on Saturday, with work, and I've a wedding to go to next week. Don't know what exactly to wear, but I'm looking forward to it! Plus, there's Rylee's (my cousin Red's/Robert's new baby sister) christening coming up too.

5) My Music History teacher is one of the coolest men I've ever met. Ever.

6) I can't believe it's been seven years since 9/11. I can still remember every detail that happened that day, and for the following days. I'm sure everyone else can attest to this.

That's all for now, boys and girls. Go Cubbies!

A Few Things:

1) Hey, Chicago Cubs, what the hell? It's September, when the baseball race really heats up, and what happens? The bats fall asleep when the starting pitching's great and vice versa, and the bullpen doesn't remember how to close it up with authority anymore. I mean, we lost to the Reds, and the Cards just beat us, spoiling Dempter's awesome start. Are we practicing how to ground into double plays on a regular basis?! Come on, step it up. We can't rely on the Brewers losing the rest of their games for the season (although that would be pretty fucking awesome). So stop giving me and the rest of the city heart attacks. Please, just win. Beat these motherfucking Redbirds.

Oh, and the magic number is 15 at the moment. I can smell October 'round the corner.....but I'd feel a lot better if we start winning for once.

2) I had an epiphany come to me in the form of a chord progression yesterday in my Music Theory class. It just kinda hit me, after I started imagining a drum beat in my head. It's a pretty simple chord progression, I mean it doesn't reinvent the wheel. But, I can find myself listening to this over and over again. I won't write anything down that I wouldn't genuinely enjoy myself, so this one is huge. I just need to work on a chorus and lyrics, and I'm set.

3) I'm still on the ball, in terms of school. I'm keeping up with all of my readings, and I haven't really panicked over anything just yet. I await this moment in anticipation....

4) Someone has my eye at school (not literally, thankfully). We happen to have a ton of common interests, she's artsy, and our top Pixar and Disney films list are very similar. And for once in a very very long time, I've been getting that feeling in my stomach each time I see her. Anyways, I look forward to whatever I can make out of this, no matter what happens.

5) Free Chipotle day is overrated.

That's all I've got for now. I've gotta practice my guitar piece.